Term of the Day

Shovelware is a derogatory term used for software that has either been quickly developed without regard to quality or function and features, or software that has been forced on customers such as those that are preloaded on laptops or smartphones by their respective carriers.
Read more

After maxing out on Quickbooks, Gunther Gifts needed a software solution that could support their growth and enable complete integration across inventory, accounting, purchasing and sales. Download this paper to read about their results.

If you need better reporting, more automation, tighter internal controls, and greater visibility into your operations, it may be time to switch to a new accounting system.
If you're like most small businesses, you've been using QuickBooks to manage your company's financials. It's well known. It's easy. It works. And it offers the functionality a business needs when it's starting out.
But if your business has moved beyond the entry level, you may find you're doing more outside of QuickBooks—which is affecting your organization's productivity.
If you need better reporting, more automation, tighter internal controls, and greater visibility into your operations, it may be time to switch to a new accounting system. How can you be sure?
Discover why now's the time to graduate to a new financial management and accounting system.

Over the years, small to midsized businesses
have pieced together a patchwork of
applications to run their operations. From
accounting to order fulfilment, to sales and
marketing, a venerable hairball of applications
exists across millions of small to midsized
business. This infrastructure will not enable
rapidly growing businesses to sustain and
accelerate growth.

These are the end times for traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. Overstatement? Not really—especially for growing businesses like yours. Old-school ERP systems are simply too slow, complex, and inflexible to keep up with today’s business climate.
Think about your existing ERP. Does it support industry-specific best practices, ever-changing regulatory requirements, and emerging technologies such as social media, mobile, cloud, and analytics? If not, you could risk losing ground to your competitors as a result.

Did you ever wonder what enterprise resource planning or ERP is and how it can help your business? Or perhaps you know a little about ERP but you’re not sure if you should opt for an on-premise or cloud solution and what to expect from your final choice.
Don’t worry.
If you’re a business owner, manager or director in a mid-sized or growing business and you’re confused about ERP, this guide will help you.

Forrester Consulting provides independent and objective research-based consulting to help leaders succeed in their organizations. Ranging in scope from a short strategy session to custom projects, Forrester’s Consulting services connect you directly with research analysts who apply expert insight to your specific business challenges. For more information, visit forrester.com/consulting.

It’s hardly surprising that half of small businesses fail within the first 1-5 years. It’s not easy to launch a new product, single-handedly manage everything from IT to accounting, fend off the competition, and grow a customer base — all at the same time. A great concept, capital, passionate employees, and a private chef can only get you so far. Offering awesome customer service can make the difference between a startup that flies and a startup that dies. Here are nine ways customer support can help you beat the competition and grow your business faster.

Small businesses define our economy, accounting for over 50% of all private sector jobs in Australia. And to thrive, they need to turn on fast and sustainable business growth.
Download the exclusive eBook to see how they
-Grew revenue 44% in just 6 months
-Increased web traffic by 500%
- Reduced project time by 10%
And get insights and advice from three successful entrepreneurs:
-TripADeal: Norm Black, Founder
-Nu-Steel Homes: Ash Richardson, General Manager
-Platinum Direct Finance: Richard Kew, Director

Learn how to market payroll services to your clients to ensure a profitable revenue stream. We’ll share tips and tricks from accounting professionals who have been successful in attracting new clients by marketing payroll as part of their value add services.

You're mobile and streamlined -- or trying to be both those things -- while you provide salient financial advice to your clients, who are mostly small businesses like you. As your job is moving from traditional accounting work to involve a lot of business growth and marketing.